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11 Juta's Bus. L. 73 (2003)
Hyperlinking and Deep-Linking

handle is hein.journals/jutbusil11 and id is 73 raw text is: VOL 11 PART 2 Gerrie Ebers6hn Hyperlinking and deep-linking The copyright implications Introduction In this article I shall * distinguish between hyperlinks and deep- links; and * determine whether someone commits copy- right infringement by unauthorized repro- duction when he uses either type of link to refer Internet users to third parties' web pages. Hyperlinks (also called 'hypertext links') make it unnecessary for a cyber surfer to type in the complete address of a website. Instead, he mere- ly clicks on a highlighted or underlined string of text, or an image visible on the webpage that he currently views. So hyperlinks are incorporated into webpages.When a cyber surfer clicks on the hyperlink he is directly transferred to the home page of the designated website. The Electronic Communications and Trans- actions Act 25 of 2002 (ECTA) defines a hyper- link as 'a reference or link from some point on one data message directing a browser or other technology or functionality to another data message or point therein or to another place in the same data message' (s 1). Deep-linking occurs where A's web site contains a link to B's web site. But deep-linking differs from hyperlinking: with hyperlinking, the cyber surfer is transferred to B's homepage, whereas with deep-linking the cyber surfer is transferred to one of the internal pages of B's website. So the cyber surfer bypasses the homepage for one of the internal webpages that are usually accessible from the homepage, or by clicking on a few headings or headlines. Deep-links are often used for footnotes, bibliographic references, and cross-references. According to Brad Bolin ('Linking and liability' (2000), available at <www. bitlaw. com/internet/linking.html>), a deep-link 'is simply a connection between the content of two different files (or between different parts of a single file). A link may lead either to another file in the same web site, or to a file on a different computer located elsewhere on the Internet.' Deep-linking differs from framing in two respects: when a user clicks on a deep-link, the screen display either changes completely, in that the webpage that contains the deep-link is no longer displayed but a new webpage is dis- played in its stead, or the user's browser may create a new window in which the destination webpage is displayed by itself; and * the destination web address is correctly dis- played by the user's browser. Some website operators object to deep-linking on the basis that cyber surfers bypass the opera- tors' home pages where advertising banners or other relevant are usually displayed, from which displays the operators derive income. So when- ever a cybcr surfer is transferred from a third-party website to a page of A's website other than A's homepagc,A may actually lose income. ISSN 1021-7061

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